Wine ‘growlers’ now allowed at winery tasting rooms

Lost River will be able to fill their growlers off site tasting rooms. Photo courtesy of Lost River Winery

Beginning Thursday (June 12), a new state law will allow family wineries in Washington state to fill wine “growlers” — customer-owned, reusable and re-sealable bottles — at tasting rooms that are separate from wineries.

To celebrate, Lost River Winery will host an event at its Seattle tasting room near the Pike Place Market, from 11:30 a.m. – 7 p.m., with free appetizers beginning at 5 p.m. Winery owner John Morgan said Lost River will also release its 2011 Western Red Bordeaux blend in growlers.

Lost River’s growlers are clear, one-liter bottles, Morgan said. He said growlers save an estimated 65 percent of the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine.

“Our practice is to sell the bottle and the fill as separate items, and then trade the bottle out for a full one when you return so that we can clean, sanitize, sterilize, and refill the returned bottle at our convenience,” Lost River says on its website. For the Western Red Bordeaux growlers, the cost of the bottle is $5.50 and a refill is $20.

Wineries including Lost River had been allowed to fill growlers at the site where wine is bottled, but not at an “off-premise” location such as satellite tasting rooms. The new law was promoted by Family Wineries of Washington State, a trade organization to which Lost River Winery belongs.